Allmendinger may not the turn heads of many casual NASCAR bettors, but don’t be part of that group. While Allmendinger hasn’t finished better than 18th place in any of his last nine races, he has shown elevated performances when it comes to road course contests. He’s won before at Watkins Glen and over the past three Sonoma races, has a series-best 76 laps led. Don’t sleep too hard on #47.
Clint Bowyer
Bowyer has cracked the top 15 just once in his last four races, which largely explains why he’s here on our sleepers’ list. Bowyer, however, is maneuvering the car that won in Sonoma in 2016 and has been an under-the-radar type of racer in road course races. He has finished inside the top 10 in eight of his past 10 races in Sonoma plus he made it to the top five six times during that stretch. There there’s this: Bowyer ranks third in points in the last 10 road course races.
Denny Hamlin
Hamlin finished second in this race last year so he’ll be coming into Sonoma with some extra motivation. In the 2016 edition of the Toyota/Save Mart 350, Hamlin took the lead in 33 laps before succumbing to Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing. He bounced back by emerging victorious in Glen Watkins, which should serve as a clear sign of how good Hamlin’s chances of winning this weekend.
